CDO Batizado

Even though we haven't been training in a while we were glad to be able to help out!  Since have this huge house to have people over with, we said we could house a few of the higher ups.  one of them backed out so we only had one which was good!  It was a lot of driving around since all their events were in Battle Creek but it was a lot of fun hanging out with Malandro.  I loved talking about the philosophy of capoeira with him and the different schools of thoughts.  It was a whirlwind weekend but it was great to see old faces again :)










































We did get a chance to see the troca and the kiddos got to hang with other kids which was fun for them!  We saw a really crazy fire happen and poor Norah was super sick for a day... but, the weekend was great and congrats to everybody who moved up!

JVG

IKEA and Baz's batizado

We have been wanting to go to IKEA for awhile to get the kids some chairs ("the one like Papas!") and we had an opportunity to combine trips.  I know that it's not that far away, but it is when you have small children.  I realize that our kids travel well, but... its just more efficient to combine trips.  :)  We luckily got to go see Baz's batizado and see some friends there as well!  The IKEA trip went really well and we ended up getting the chairs and then this awesome swinging chair.  It looks like a space pod but it hangs from the ceiling and it supports our weight too.




I like going to Baz's events because they are at the athletic club where he works and there are a lot of things for the kids to do.  :)  And, I have the worlds' greatest husband and father so he is all about taking them around to explore and play.  That means I get to hang out with friends and watch capo!  The kids found the outdoor playground and spent the entire time playing there until the event was over.  It was a good day that was productive and full!  :)




JVG

Good bye Brian and Heather!

There was a going away party/roda for Brian and Heather.  Brian is joining the air force and Heather got into a PhD program in Florida.  They held it at Fort Custer where there are a lot of trails and they have a beach and picnic areas.  It was a nice turnout and the weather was beautiful!  The kids weren't that interested in the roda part so we walked down to the beach where they had a good time.  :)  The actual park and beach were nice, but the people who went left a little to be desired.  I'm so used to everything being smoke free (even public places) so when almost everybody there smoked it was a bit of a turn off.  It was nice to be able to see people I haven't seen in awhile and to wish both Brian and Heather good bye and good luck on their future endeavors!

JVG

Brazilian Cheese Lady!

So I was finally able to make it to a demo for capo and it was for this Brazilian Cheese Lady (or so that's what everybody in the group calls her).  I have no idea how she even heard of us, but she invited us to do a demo outside of Hardings while she did samples of her cheese bread!  It was a lot of fun, and even though it was hotter than hot out I think the games went really well.  :)  There have been a lot of dynamic shifts within the group but I think that they are positive and I'm liking the overall attitude of the group a whole lot better.  I finally got some group whites that don't say Mandinga and I even won something!  And that is super exciting for me because I never win anything.  :)  Overall it was a great little demo and people actually showed up and had some great axe for the entire thing.








JVG

Capo, food and friends

We haven't been going to capo very regularly since the school year started and I always like going to weekend rodas because there is more variety in people to play!  And, to me, when I started capo it was almost as much about the social aspect as the actual martial art... so I like to see all the peeps I used to see a lot more of!  (You know, when I was toting 3 kids around too haha)

We went to Lansing for their 'end of the year' roda.  I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of the CDO group's organization (or lack thereof) but they are passionate about it!  When we got there they were having an actual class, not just a roda, which was a little weird, but they started the roda pretty quickly. It was fun and we played a lot of good games.

Norah admiring Dude

Goose admiring Dude haha

Yup, we built a little barrier out of steps so that Norah couldn't escape as easily

I love my kids... they all look alike haha

OK... let's be honest... I wasn't thinking about going to this roda until I found out that Gato and Ratinha were going... so I was more excited to see them than to play but the playing part was good too.  :)  After the roda we went out to lunch with Gato (Ratty wasn't feeling well, so she stayed home) Tally and Fantasma!  It was so good to catch up with those guys.  And it's so nice that they are good with the older crazies.  Norah went to TOWN on the mashed potatoes that we ordered her... she pretty much just liked to feel it between her fingers, but she ate the majority of them (what wasn't on her face).  It was a really nice afternoon of fun, exercise and catching up.  :)




JVG

Yellow!

We got to the batizado just in time!  I was amazed.  Unfortunately when I got there it was brought to my attention that I was supposed to have brought some different clothes for the performances but nobody told me.  Luckily, somebody had extras that I could borrow!  The lack of organization for these performances has been somewhat irritating, and no lie, I was going to be quite happy when this whole thing was over!

The African Dance went fairly well.  It was MUCH MUCH slower than it was supposed to be, but I think that was probably best in the end for a lot of the other dancers.  Macuele... well, I'm not sure.  We never actually had a practice that everybody was, and partners always changed so we weren't sure who was suppose to be with whom.  Another snafu was that there were an odd amount of people so there was going to be an odd man out when we partnered up... which, incidentally turned out to be me.  Oh well.  Last, when we rehearsed we always faced the drummers, not the crowd, so when it was performance time people were confused which way to face... awesome.  Well, the show was going to go on regardless and we finished!  I felt better after the performances were out of the way.  :)







I wasn't sure if I was going to move up but it turns out that I was!  I can't believe that after 6 years I finally got my yellow :)  For some reason I always felt that you weren't really taken seriously as a capoeirista until you were a yellow... and I know that we don't train as often as others, but we have been apart of the capo community for quite some time.  And given our situation, three young kids, we switch on and off for class... so now that this whole event is over its going to be Gaetans turn to train!  I think that my game went well.  I was just really hoping not to get taken care hard!  I don't really like watching myself play, as I'm very critical, but I think that it flowed decently and like I said... just happy I didn't get taken down!



























A HUGE shout out to Tricia (Dude's wife), Laura, Quebra and Dizzy for helping watch our kids.  Seriously, that made all the difference in the world.  The whole event was a lot less stressful due to fantastic people willing to help out.  So, thank you thank you thank you.  And, of course, to my wonderful husband.  Without his selfless acts of watching all the kids so I could train and take part in this event it never would've happened.  Thank you for being so understanding and letting me have a life  :)

Sunday I attended a yoga workshop and honestly, I. Am. So. Sore!  It was supposed to be a relaxation one to help with stretching and any stress you might've acquired during the weekend, but it was still tough.  It was good though and I did feel much better after it was over.  Norah was still sleeping so I got to stay for a little bit longer  :)  They did a bate papo, which normally I'm not thrilled about.  From my experience the higher up's get up there, tell stories and don't really answer people's questions.  This one was different... it was awesome.  I loved hearing what they had to say and the stories that they told were completely relevant to people's questions.  They stayed on point (What?!  Didn't know it was possible did ya) and I could really feel their love and passion for the sport.  I think my favorite thing they talked about was how to train better.  They said that a lot of people want to learn fancy flashy moves but don't have a basic understanding of the game or of fundamental basics which is totally the wrong way to go about it.  They said that they won't last and playing them is ugly because they aren't actually interacting with you.  And they said that doing capoeira is about family and community... that no matter what sort of beef you have with somebody you respect them and you have their back if they get into trouble.  I thought it was awesome.  And the guests were hilarious... that is always a plus.  :)

I can't believe that the weekend is over and that we made it!  It was a great weekend filled with much celebration, friends and love.

JVG